Question: What about books?

As I dig into the questions that have been asked in this blog, in the feedback form, to the Member Services team, and in the Webinar, one common theme is the book building capability of Family Tree Maker.

Ancestry Press is not, nor was it intended to be, a replacement to the old book building capability available in previous versions of Family Tree Maker. The development team is working hard on an offline book building option that will be available for free to all Family Tree Maker 2008 customers. This offline book building option will be similar to what users were used to in previous versions of Family Tree Maker. It will not, however, support legacy Family Tree Maker books.

Below is a mock of the offline book building project currently under development. Please note that this is only a mock and will likely change before launch.

The offline book building option will be available next year. As a result, the finished product is not set in stone. Please offer your feedback as comments to this post and in the Family Tree Maker feedback form. What did you like about the book building in previous versions? What didn’t you like? What added functionality would you like to see?

Ancestry Press will remain a part of Family Tree Maker 2008. Ancestry Press is an online publishing tool that allows users to create coffee-table quality books, prints for framing, or family tree posters. Ancestry Press, the publishing tool, is a free service to anyone that wants to use it. Users can also print for free at home or they can order a book, print, or poster for a fee through the Ancestry Press integrated printing process.

I’m anxious to hear what you liked and didn’t like in previous versions of the Family Tree Maker book building tool as well as insight into possible future functionality.

51 Comments

[…] What about books? Benjamin Nettesheim created an interesting post today on Question: What about books?Here’s a short […]

November 2, 2007 at 5:08 pm

Shirley

Hi all. I’m trying desperately to create a book. I did already in FTM 2006 but the book would often get defiled and I couldn’t save it to CD or my computer, so it would become lodged forever in la-la land of FTM 06. Fine, I could print it, but I couldn’t upload it and copy it to a CD. So I bought FTM 2008 hoping to solve this problem. Now I’m understanding I can’t use it to make a book? I really don’t understand and am getting more and more frustrated and wished I had started with a different software.

Anyway, I started to make a new book and have completed two pages. So I figured I’d just use the Ancestry press for the time being, put in my own info, stories, pictures, documents, etc., and leave out the trees for another time. Does that make sense now? My question is, where is the TOC and Index? Isn’t there one in Ancestry press? Please help and save me from the loony bin. Thanks.

Thank you for the opportunity to offer my opinions. Here is what I want for the Books portion of FTM 2008 and beyond.

1) The ability to incorporate descendants reports, ahnentafel reports, pedigree charts, family group sheets, pictures and document images, and text items into a book in the order that I choose. With the ability to have text footnotes and source citations. With an index and Table of Contents and List of Illustrations. Just like we have had in FTM 2006 and before.

2) However, I would like to be able to export the book to a Word Processing file (especially Microsoft Word!) with the Field codes for the TOC and Index included so that I can edit the book as I wish before I publish it. Presently, the only way to get an index in FTM 2006 and before is to get a PDF format which cannot be edited. The alternative is to collect the edited reports in the Word Processing program and add the Field Codes by hand or with a macro – with 100 pages and maybe 2,000 names, that is time consuming. It’s impossible for a really big book.

3. For the ahnentafel reports, I would like the option to not include the children listing in the report. This type of name list is very useful to me and others and the lack of it has been a gripe for years. Even lowly PAF can do this. It’s simple. Please?

4. For the descendants reports, I would like the choice of Register and Modified Register (NGSQ) formats. These are the standard for publications and web pages. The FTM 2006 and before has this option and does an excellent job of them.

5. For any report or book, I want the ability to tie Sources for Facts to the text Notes – so that a transcribed or abstracted deed, will, census record, Bible record etc. can be given a source number and citation in a Footnote. In FTM 2006, you can add a Fact with a Source, but only by putting the transcription or abstract in the Footnote can you tie the text to a source. Does that make sense? I hope so!

That’s my wish list!

Thanks — Randy

November 2, 2007 at 7:39 pm

Marilyn Kumpf

I agree with Randy Seaver. There are numerous reports that should be easy to program. A Kinship report is another report I would like to see.

Like he said PAF can do it. It seems like a good programmer would have no trouble at all with these reports.

I’m new genealogy and have found your site a real pleasure. I was able to upload my tree from PAF with no problem at all.

November 2, 2007 at 10:36 pm

Ed Hoak

I am very pleased (cannot under emphasize) to see the old style books will be coming soon. On the other hand I am very disappointed that FTM 2008 was released with so many shortcomings. How could one expect to release a less capable product and not expect a significant level of customer dissatisfaction? At BEST 2008 is a beta quality product. Add to the functionality deficiencies 2008 still bombs and crashes frequently even after installing SP1. Program performance on top of missing functionality add salt to the wound.

I would like to echo Randy Seaver’s desires for report generation. Everything I try to add I see he has already covered! It MUST have a robust Genealogy Report capability that was supported in FTM 2006 and is sorely missing now. An excellent enhancement over FTM 2006 would be the abiltiy to export all reports in rich text or similar capability for more robust word processing manipulation.

Also, bring back the Hourglass chart! This is a handy and frequently used chart…

I am also interested to know if 3rd parties / vendors are planning plugins. As I discovered the plithora of shortcomings in 2008 I couldn’t help but wonder if a plugin was available to handle my gripe du jour. My limited search could not find anyone providing such things as of yet.

As a long time user of FTM I am looking forward to restoring the capability we once had. In the interim I am maintaining two databases and not liking it! The faster enhancements can role out the better.

There, I got that off my chest. Ed

November 3, 2007 at 2:13 pm

Ernest Moore, Jr.

I echo the thoughts of Randy Seaver and Ed Hoak, especially the ability to format a book using Microsoft Word capabilities. This will give one the ability to lock a picture to a given spot in reference to text,the ability to insert subscript numbers to reference sources, among many other capabilities.

November 4, 2007 at 4:02 am

Lawrence Iams

Man, I thought I was going crazy until I read these comments here. I bought the upgrade and was looking forward to new report enhancements that would include many of the capabilities discussed in previous commentary. But no, it’s all gone… and now to get a book, I have to upload my file that I have worked for 10 years on to your site with no guarantees of privacy. I have used FTM for all of my years conducting research. What a major disappointment. Please incorporate ideas from Randy Seaver. Your customers deserve this at a minimum.

November 4, 2007 at 8:37 am

DJ Moore

I have used FTM since version 3.1 many years ago and have continued to buy the upgrades, BUT the new version is very disappointing…I have gone back to FTM 2006 version as it has the features I need and desire without crashing to boot!! I hope you will get the new one fixed soon!!

November 4, 2007 at 12:36 pm

Clovis LaFleur

I agree with Randy. Only item not covered is to be able to load the books I’ve already completed in previous versions of FamilyTree Maker. You don’t do that, then I have to continue using 2006 and have wasted my purchase of 2008.

Would most appreciate at least same facitlies as FTM 16, but in addition the ability to better incorporate MS Word documents (including formating, and indexing between FTM contents and the Word document inclusions).

Any reason you can’t import the book outline if not the whole book itself.

Regards, Larry 2007NV06 10:20 Sydney

November 5, 2007 at 4:23 pm

Jay

Allow integration with MS Word and not word pad. There is so much more flexability in Word and in todays technical age it should be easy! Jay

November 6, 2007 at 1:52 am

Jay

Has anyone here used AncestryPress.com? I tested it out using a test tree (privicy concerns) and found it to be really quite good.

Ben – Could we make AncestryPress offline and integrate it into FTM08? Jay

November 6, 2007 at 2:16 am

Mary Beth Marchant

After reading all the comments from various forums about FTM 2008, it is clear that I would not touch it with a 10 foot pole. I have created many, many books from my FTM 2006 and/or Version 16 that I am quite happy with. I absolutely refuse to be herded to Ancestry to print my books. I have used FTM software for 10 years and have always been very happy with it. However, looks like I will be going elsewhere. What a mess!!!

I agree with posts suggesting a revert to functionality from FTM 2006. However it would be great to create text items (essays on aspects of particular family groups stories) and share them between different book projects (this is not possible on 2006).

Be afraid – be very afraid — of losing valuable data when transferring/upgrading to Family Tree Maker 2008 (FTM2008) software. I highly recommend NOT upgrading to this product at this time, and instead staying with earlier versions of FTM or using other vendors’ software.

I am an experienced genealogist with an extensive IT software development and testing background. When I recently attempted to upgrade to the recently released FTM2008 from Family Tree Maker 16 (FTM16), I experienced an large number of problems, the most dangerous and severe being LOSS OF DATA ! !

More than 20 percent of my text records were lost and failed to transfer. The lost records appear to be source data documenting events (i.e., birth, death, etc.) and individual notes for individuals. Also, some sources that did transfer appear to have been scrambled and no longer relate to the correct events.

I initiated numerous communications with the technical staff who purportedly supports FTM2008, and, in turn, received comments such as “I do apologize that you are frustrated with the software” …and… “I am not sure why this information has not transferred to the new software”. Other than these comments, there appeared to be no concern for the problem, nor any expressed intent to fix it.

Because of the seriousness of data loss, I subsequently sent a message to David Humphreys (Project Manager responsible for FTM2008) and two letters to Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of The Generations Network (TGN) – the company that owns Ancestry.com and produces Family Tree Maker software. THERE WAS NEVER A RESPONSE FROM ANY OF TGN’s MANAGEMENT.

It was recently announced that in mid-October 2007, Spectrum Equity Investors acquired TGN (which included FTM2008, Ancestry.com, and MyFamily.com) for $300 million. So, I sent correspondence to the two Co-Founders and Managing Directors of Spectrum Equity Investors advising them of this critical problem with FTM2008 – and like the correspondence sent to the senior management of TGN – NOTHING HAPPENED ! !

I highly encourage all using, or who might be considering using, FTM2008 to proceed with utmost caution. Besides the FTM2008 software being less than adequate in it’s present form (generally “buggy”, reduced reports, more cumbersome, difficult to install, etc.), as genealogists, we can not afford to lose the results of our research. I would suggest everyone retain their previous versions of their data files and software and refrain from using FTM2008 until the company announces a new release and CAN PROVE that their buggy software is fixed and reliable.

FTM2008 definitely has a long way to go before regaining and earning back the reputation that it enjoyed with the earlier versions !

Users may confirm the many problems being encountered with FTM2008 by doing a Google search using “Family Tree Maker 2008” and “problems”. Literally 100’s of sites are listed ! !

Dan Hunter

—————————————————-

Larry Chesebro’

November 8, 2007 at 10:15 am

Jeff

The book building feature FTM 16 and look forward to an improved version in FTM 2008.

My requested improvements are: 1. Improve endnotes with ablility to “reuse” citations instead of repeating with different endnote number for each use of the same source. RootsMagic and Legacy do this well. 2. It would also be great if a single endnotes section could be created at the end of the book like the index rather than at the end of each report. RootsMagic and Legacy do this well. 3. The ability to create columns in genealogy reports. I like to create books in large formats (A3 size) which works well for trees, but makes text reports difficult to read unless you can create columns. 4. Improved handling of facts (beyond birth date and location) in genealogy reports. It would be better to incorporate these into the text with standard (and ideally customizable) sentence formats. RootsMagic does this well 5. Include photos in geneaology reports. RootsMagic does this well. 6. Export to MS Word.

Although RootsMagic and Legacy have some of the features I want, FTM 16 is better for my needs. It would be perfect if the above features could be added. Thanks.

November 9, 2007 at 9:23 am

Billy Kelley

I had version 11 and the book feature would put together all of the information in notes and events in a readable form that made since. I am not interested in your online publishing, but I do want to print my own books. Even the Register report you have now does not work like it is supposed to.

November 12, 2007 at 8:20 pm

David

I have FTM 2006. I have a book that has over 900 pages I have been working on for years. So if I upgrade to the new FTM I will lose this book? I don’t even have the option of a new an improved version of this book? Hard to believe this would happen.

I don’t want to start over again. I have lots of my own text pages with photos and stories. What I would like to see is the piece improve. I want the index to be able to index the names in my own stories, or create a way of making these stories. I don’t want just the dry charts and footnotes, I want to write actual stories, include copies of documents and photos within the story.

To recreate this entire book on Ancestry Press would cost me about $400 an edition, and not sure they could even handle 900 pages.- And I agree with the privacy aspect.

I am glad I read this before buying. Looks like I will stay with 2006, then look for some other type of software unless the new FTM can handle legacy books.

November 13, 2007 at 11:17 pm

jb

I am trying to export my “book” to Acrobat PDF file – the only option I have in FTM 16. It only exports the last 2 pages. What gives? Is there any other way to get my “book” out of the program without physically printing every page?

November 18, 2007 at 1:33 pm

jb

Bill Kelly – I read your post regarding your 900 page book. I too have a book that I started on an earlier version. I purchased version 16 because the older version ran out of memory. Now that I am finished and ready to publish, it looks like they are up to version 17. I need a “patch” to export my book to PDF but they don’t have a “patch” for version 16. So….the longer it takes you to get your book finished, the versions will change and you’ll be stuck. Back up your entire file to CD, so at least you will have that. As for the book – I am trying to figure out myself how to get it published. Family Tree Maker has misrepresented this capability. I don’t see how it is possible with their software. Has anyone been successful, without going through their Ancestry Press. I don’t want to give them any more money.

November 18, 2007 at 1:42 pm

Mary Ann

I am sorry to say that I have already purchased 2008 and am more than disappointed. I have used FTM since the beginning, kept up with most updates and finally decided to update to 2008. How I wish I had read these blogs first. In particular I object to having to use Ancestry Press in order to print a book. I had used this feature in earlier addition and was very satisfied. It appears to me that Ancestry knows no bounds on trying to get our money. They might very well have just lost a loyal customer.

November 18, 2007 at 6:49 pm

Bill Bienia

Adding to Randy’s comments, I would like to see the following in the Book feature:

1) The ability to select a variety of ancestors to create report for. (In the figure shown in the mock-up, only one person is shown.) We must be able to select the person as the root for each report.

2) The ability to include other front and back matter itesm, such as Dedication, Acknowledgements, Foreword, Preface, Source list (preferably in proper bibliographic format.)

3) The ability to create text pages, such as an Introduction section as the lead-in opening chapter, or a Glossary at the end of the book.

4) The ability to create Chapter title pages.

5) The ability to handle preparation of double-sided manuscript byb supporting left and right page settings.

November 26, 2007 at 12:08 pm

David

I was just looking at the Ancestry Press book, and they limit you to 100 pages anyway.

November 26, 2007 at 11:46 pm

Sharon

You guys are lucky, at least you can go online to ancestry press through FTM 2008. I can’t get the program to even go online to register…. the message I got from the helpdesk was reduce my firewall settings…. I turned the damn thing off and it still won’t let me get on!! I have been using FTM since 3.2 (and upgrading each time) and have always loved it, however, I bit the bullet and paid a hundred bucks for a program that doesn’t do any of the things that it promised to do. I have a subscription to Ancestry.com that I can’t use, because I can’t register FTM 2008 first…. I just wish I had checked out these blogs first before I “upgraded” (and I use that term loosely)… I might just look into getting my money back!!

November 28, 2007 at 4:05 am

Terri Hall

I was highly disappointed in Family Tree Maker 2008. Gone are a lot of the features that kept me coming back to Family Tree Maker.

I want the ability to create a book or import one from a previous version, with the ability to incorporate ancestor & descendant charts, genealogy report, family group sheets. family trees, text items, pictures, maps even a calendar in the order that I want them in. In 2005 version you could create your own reports, and create your book offline. It also had the calendar option which was nice for birthdays & anniversarys– although I would like to have been able to adjust the size of boxes for each day.

I may have to go back to previous version or try a different genealogy program.

December 4, 2007 at 8:14 pm

J. Woodfin

Hi,

for me as german is it importent to know:

Can you create the ancestry press side in german ?

Because not every german can english.

Best wishes Jürgen Woodfin

December 8, 2007 at 11:49 am

Athena

We’re all very glad to hear that TGN is working on restoring book generation to the current product.

I hope, that what is being developed will be more than just a superficial replication of what we have in FTM16. In other words, the objective should not be to appease users with 75% of the features we already have but to offer actual improvement in book generation — i.e. 100% of FTM16 function plus enhancements.

One addition I would like to see would be “insert object” capabilty to support output from other programs. It’s rather frustrating to have invested in add-on products that generate better charts only to find that I can’t include them in FTM books.

December 9, 2007 at 10:26 am

David

I agree with Athena – the book restoration cannot be a poor cousin of its former self. I would have to have all the features, and more. One advantage I see in ancestry.com is the ability to attach historical documents to an individual (I would argue the fact that the OneWorldTree is an historical document however). It would be nice if the documents you attach in the scrapbook could automatically print as part of one of the reports.

December 9, 2007 at 8:09 pm

karen

As far as I can tell, the additional book feature will suffer from the same deficiency as core FTM2008: it will be hard to use on anything less than a 22″ widescreen monitor.

The UI designers really need to to step back and do something that better accommodates other user environments.

December 17, 2007 at 4:14 pm

Jim Patton

Please see my feedback note for today 12/21/2007

December 21, 2007 at 11:21 am

Chris Hoctor

I have only recently come back into researching my family after a 7 year break, and truly love the latest FTM. I was a bit surprised to see I can no longer create my own posters of any size. I used to make very large printouts on a 48″ plotter. Marketing-wise, I can see why you’ve gone to Ancestry press, but I lost a capability I thought I paid for.

December 21, 2007 at 12:12 pm

Louisa

I agree that the focus should be on improving the book capability from FTM16. There seems to be entirely too much focus at TGN on superficial UI changes (as in the screenshot of yet another overly busy screen with teeny-tiny print) and very little attention to actual *function*.

For example, I haven’t seen one word about the inability to use media in books. I haven’t figured out how include print charts with photos in FTM16 books, let alone scrapbook items. I have hundreds of PDF files in my scrapbooks — newspaper articles,

January 4, 2008 at 10:35 am

Louisa

…birth/death certificates, items from Footnote, etc — and I would like to be able to include some of them in my books but can’t (As I understand it, FTM2008 won’t even let me include them in the scrapbook but that’s another issue).

As far as I can tell, the requirements analysis for books by the FTM team has been even more poorly handled than the other functions — if indeed that is possible.

January 4, 2008 at 10:39 am

Murray McFarlane

Having just gone from FTM 2006 to FTM 2008. The loss of the book function is a major mistake as it makes hours of work done previously obsolete. Not every one wants to publish to the web. Fortunately I still have 2006 usable but this makes data entry messy as changes need to be made both in 2008 and 2006.

I never had any difficulties with the book function and it has provided all I need though it would be nice to be able to import pictures from outside the program without having to attach them to a person

January 4, 2008 at 3:34 pm

Ginny

Going from FTM 2005 to 2008, I thought would be a great advantage, but have found the exact opposite. I too am very displeased about the book function. At this point I too will go back to 2005. I don’t think it is appropriate for you to charge me for “new updated” software that has lossed functionality to its predecessor, and then want me to pay ancestry press to print something that I was printing in a previous version. I don’t think so!!

January 6, 2008 at 7:40 am

Sandie Miller

I am using FTM2008…I have quite a large tree and would like to know if anyone knows of any other ‘publishing’software that I could use to create a complete book of my Ancestors?

January 11, 2008 at 12:15 pm

David

One thing I have never liked about the book publisher in 2006 and before, is that you had to export the entire book to PDF. It would be nice to say, export pages 3-10 as PDF. If we had this function now, we could be exporting them as PDF to use in some other publishing program.

Hi I’m new to geneology and to ancestry.com. My mother started researching her family when she retired and gathered a lot of data. However, she did not have a computer to use to compile, organize and print the data. Sence retiring myself, I have picked up the challenge and organized and filed all of her papers and documents. Ancesrty.com has helped me fill in many of the blanks and I am now interested in preparing a book(s). My goal is to prepare 4 books. Currently, many of the stories and historical data is in WORD and some WordPerfect. I have Microsoft Publisher. I want to avoid duplication of data entry and other prep work if I can. Can FMT/Ancestry files and reports be used in WORD, WordPerfect and Publisher? There are several publishing packages available at the stores that say they can produce ancestry books, do you know if they accept FMT/Ancestry files?

It is my understanding that eventually FMT will be able to product a book. However, the timeframe for that function seems far off. Do you have any estimated date for availability?

I have been a great fan of the german version of familytreemaker for more than 10 years. I am presently using FTM 2005. A new program version without the book function is absolutely inacceptable for me, since I am using this function quite frequently to create presents for relatives for birthdays and anniversaries.

February 25, 2008 at 3:42 am

Ken

Believe it or not – I’ve been using FTM V10 (2002). Finally upgraded to FTM 2008 last month – EXTREMELY disappointed in the Books capability (or total lack thereof). Echo all the previous comments.

Bring back all the prior functionality at a minimum.

Bottom line – sticking with V10 for now.

ps – anyone know where I can purchase a copy of V16.

March 4, 2008 at 3:23 pm

Ernie

I liked everything about the v16 book writing, with only a few things needing improving; the ability to utilize footnotes, the ability to format text i.e. stabilizing text and Left/Center/Right/Justified, and the ability to retain pictures inserted in the text body. If I removed a picture from my database that was also in my book, that picture was removed from my book. I solved that by making a separate folder that stayed in my database and, every time I posted a picture to my book I also placed it in the separate folder.

April 25, 2008 at 6:14 am

David

Did they ever get the book feature back in? I don’t want to buy the new one until they do.

May 13, 2008 at 8:18 am

Roberta Iiames

I have a rather large family file over 62,000 individuals. I wanted to make a book but decided that FTM 16 and Adobe were not able to make up such a book which would be well over 6,000 pages. I therefore decided to include x number of generations down to the main individual. I then made a Group page for the main individual. There were six siblings and I decided to include the above in each book and then make up a Genealogy Report for each of the children [plus the index]So, I actually had six books each numbering at least 900 pages. I had one of the siblings that had 2500 pages. Adobe made up the first part and the index that appeared in the Adobe reader but the genealogy report did not appear in Adobe even though it was listed in the books. I printed what I could from the Adobe Reader – page 1-10 and the Index pages 2000-end. I then went back to the books and printed the genealogy report pages 11 – 1999. I was careful not to exit the book. The numbering on the pages were all correct. I now have six beautifully hard bound books. All of them include charts, Index of names, everything a book should have. They are all 8-1/2 x 11. I had contacted the “Help” people and when I told them the problem that I was experiencing, the comment was, “You are fortunate not to have a lot more problems.” They didn’t help. I found a book-binder that binds one or more books. One book is just fine for me. I will make other books up and send them libraries.

May 18, 2008 at 7:18 am

Roberta Iiames

Looking for a book binder? Or looking for a printer? [Attention ji posted Nov 8, 2007 #22] I printed my books on my printer. I used Wausau Bright White Acid Free, Lignin Free 60# paper. You normally can find a printer to print books [.08 cents per page printed both sides] pages only. Or, you can use the Adobe feature in the book preview. You can copy the book to a CD and take it to the printers. Now, you need a book-binder. I found a book-binder that will hard bound books with imprints starting at $25.00 per book plus shipping. THey will bind one or a 100 for the same cost per book. My books are 8-1/2 X 11 and about 2 inches thick. All have indexes.

May 18, 2008 at 7:34 am

Clare

Books. Please bring back books as in 2006 FTM. I thought I was just not able to find them. Yes legacy books would be good but I’d take the same functionality. The new coffee table books are a joke. Looks like a scrap book but without the homie touches. Scrappers could make their own better and geanologists are at a loss. I think that FTM users who have been with the company since the begining deserve better treatment. When can we expect to get books back? Or are we going to have to pay again for what we used to have?

May 22, 2008 at 10:42 am

Dean Sliger

I would like the Register Report to be more like it was with FTM V11. In FTM 2008, parents of spouses are not listed. There are less options available for modifying report content, and the automatic layout of the report is awkward. So I have to keep FTM 11 in order to produce desirable reports, which makes me wonder why I need FTM 2008.

May 23, 2008 at 5:27 am

David

yes, not buying 2009 until I can move my book from 2006 in. I like that you can keep a book going and it updates from changes in the file.

I don’t need the coffee table book.. I need my 600 page book.

November 27, 2008 at 12:25 am

David

the one thing I wish they would fix from the 2006 book, is the ability to print a section to PDF. Say I only wanted pages 1-50. I could never do thiw without getting the whole book

Notifications

Categories

Categories

Archives

Archives

About the Ancestry blog

Here you will find informational, and sometimes fun, posts from the folks behind the scenes here at Ancestry. We hope you’ll notice just how passionate we are about family history and about the products we’re building to help connect families over distance and time.